permission

DEFINITION:

Formal consent; authorization.

foscarnet

DEFINITION:

See "foscarnet sodium."

cytomegalovirus

DEFINITION:

Any virus of the subfamily Betaherpesvirinae, highly host-specific herpesviruses that infect man, monkeys, or rodents, with the production of unique large cells bearing intranuclear inclusions. Depending upon the age and the immune status of the host, cytomegalovirus can cause a variety of clinical syndromes, collectively known as cytomegalic inclusion disease, although the majority of infections are very mild or subclinical.

CMV

DEFINITION:

Cytomegalovirus.

retinitis

DEFINITION:

Inflammation affecting the retina.

inflammation

DEFINITION:

A localized protective response elicited by injury or destruction of tissues, which serves to destroy, dilute, or wall off both the injurious agent and the injured tissue. It is characterized in the acute form by the classical signs of pain, heat, redness, swelling, and loss of function.

retina

DEFINITION:

The light-sensitive membrane that lines the inside of the back of the eye (like film in a camera) on which images are cast by the cornea and lens. The retina contains specialized nerve cells (the rods and cones) that convert light energy into nerve impulses. The retina also contains a network of connecting and integrating cells, some with very long fibers, that convey these impulses back along the optic nerve to the brain.

The rods are exceptionally sensitive, responding to very dim light. The cones are less sensitive but are responsible for color vision; different cones produce impulses that vary in strength with the color of the light striking them.

Near the center of the retina is the fovea. Here, retinal blood vessels are absent; the light-sensitive cells (almost all cones) are packed so that vision has the highest resolution.

virus

DEFINITION:

The smallest known type of infectious agent. Viruses are about one half to one hundredth the size of the smallest bacteria, from which they differ in having a much simpler structure and method of multiplication. Viral infections range from the trivial and harmless, such as warts, the common cold, and other minor respiratory tract infections, to extremely serious diseases, such as rabies, AIDS, and probably some types of cancer.

It is debatable whether viruses are truly living organisms or just collections of large molecules capable of self-replication under very specific favorable conditions. Their sole activity is to invade the cells of organisms, which they take over to make copies of themselves. Outside living cells, viruses are wholly inert. They are incapable of activities typical of life, such as metabolism (internal processing of nutrients).

The number of different kinds of virus probably exceeds the number of types of all other organisms. They parasitize all recognized life-forms---mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, plants, algae, even bacteria. Viruses are customarily separated into three subgroups on the basis of host specificity, namely bacterial viruses, animal viruses, and plant viruses. They are also classified as to their origin (e.g., reoviruses), mode of transmission (arboviruses, tickborne viruses), or the manifestations they produce (polioviruses, polyomaviruses, poxviruses). Not all viruses cause disease, but many do.

AIDS

DEFINITION:

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

AIDS

DEFINITION:

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

AIDS

DEFINITION:

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

foscarnet

DEFINITION:

See "foscarnet sodium."

chronic

DEFINITION:

Persisting over a long period of time.

urination

DEFINITION:

The discharge or passage of urine.

foscarnet

DEFINITION:

See "foscarnet sodium."

nephrogenic diabetes insipidus

DEFINITION:

A syndrome of polyuria and hyposthenuria caused by the failure of the renal tubules to reabsorb water in response to antidiuretic hormone, without disturbance in the renal filtration and solute excretion rates; the condition does not respond to exogenous vasopressin. It may be inherited as a rare X-linked trait or be acquired as a result of drug therapy or systemic disease.

NDI

DEFINITION:

Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus.

foscarnet

DEFINITION:

See "foscarnet sodium."

water deprivation test

DEFINITION:

A test of the body's ability to concentrate urine when plasma osmolality is artificially increased.

urine

DEFINITION:

The fluid excreted by the kidneys, passed through the ureters, stored in the bladder, and discharged through the urethra. Urine, in health, has an amber color, a slight acid reaction, a peculiar odor, and a bitter, saline taste.

serum

DEFINITION:

1. The clear portion of any body fluid; the clear fluid moistening serous membranes.
2. Blood serum; the clear liquid that separates from blood on clotting.
3. Immune serum; blood serum from an immunized animal used for passive immunization; an antiserum, antitoxin, or antivenin.

concentrations

DEFINITION:

1. Increases in strength by evaporation.

2. The ratios of the mass or volume of a solute to the mass or volume of the solution or solvent.

NDI

DEFINITION:

Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus.

NDI

DEFINITION:

Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus.

kidneys

DEFINITION:

A pair of vertebrate organs situated in the body cavity near the spinal column that excrete waste products of metabolism, in man are bean-shaped organs about 4-1/2 inches long lying behind the peritoneum in a mass of fatty tissue, and consist chiefly of nephrons by which urine is secreted, collected, and discharged into a main cavity whence it is conveyed by the ureter to the bladder.

hormonal

DEFINITION:

Pertaining to or of the nature of a hormone.

antidiuretic hormone

DEFINITION:

See vasopressin.

vasopressin

DEFINITION:

1. One of two octapeptide hormones formed by the neuronal cells of the hypothalamic nuclei and stored in the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland (neurohypophysis), the other being oxytocin. It stimulates the contraction of the muscular tissue of the capillaries and arterioles, raising the blood pressure. It promotes contraction of the intestinal musculature and increases peristalsis, and also exerts some contractile influence on the uterus. It also has a specific effect on the epithelial cells of the distal portion of the uriniferous tubule, augmenting resorption of water independently of solutes, resulting in concentration of urine and dilution of blood serum. Its rate of secretion is regulated chiefly by the osmolarity of the plasma.

2. [USP], A pharmaceutical preparation of the same principle, prepared synthetically or obtained from the posterior pituitary of healthy domestic animals used for food by man; used mainly as an antidiuretic in the treatment of acute or chronic diabetes insipidus, administered intramuscularly as a test of hypothalamo-neurohypophysial-renal function in distinguishing central from nephrogenic diabetes insipidus; it may also be used to stimulate smooth muscle tissue, especially to induce vasoconstriction in the presence of hemorrhage. Called also antidiuretic hormone (ADH).

VP

DEFINITION:

Abbreviation for vasopressin.

concentrate

DEFINITION:

1. To bring to a common center; to gather together at one point.

2. To increase the strength by diminishing the bulk of, as of a liquid; to condense.

3. A drug or other preparation that has been strengthened by the evaporation of its non-active parts.

urine

DEFINITION:

The fluid excreted by the kidneys, passed through the ureters, stored in the bladder, and discharged through the urethra. Urine, in health, has an amber color, a slight acid reaction, a peculiar odor, and a bitter, saline taste.

urination

DEFINITION:

The discharge or passage of urine.

infused

DEFINITION:

1. The outcome of steeping a substance in water to obtain its medicinal principles.
2. The therapeutic introduction of a fluid other than blood, as saline solution, into a vein.

desmopressin

DEFINITION:

Desmopressin acetate - a potent synthetic analogue of vasopressin used intranasally, intramuscularly, or intravenously as an antidiuretic in pituitary diabetes insipidus.

analog

DEFINITION:

1. Something that is similar to another object. A chemical analog is a chemical substance similar to another chemical substance in structure or function (Knepper).

2. Pertaining to electronic equipment in which data are represented by electrical signals or physical magnitudes having continuously varying values.

3. Analogue.

VP

DEFINITION:

Abbreviation for vasopressin.

foscarnet

DEFINITION:

See "foscarnet sodium."

urination

DEFINITION:

The discharge or passage of urine.

NDI

DEFINITION:

Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus.

foscarnet

DEFINITION:

See "foscarnet sodium."

foscarnet

DEFINITION:

See "foscarnet sodium."

NDI

DEFINITION:

Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus.

AIDS

DEFINITION:

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

NDI

DEFINITION:

Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus.

side effect

DEFINITION:

A consequence other than the one(s) for which an agent or measure is used, as the adverse effects produced by a drug, especially on a tissue or organ system other than the one sought to be benefited by its administration.

foscarnet

DEFINITION:

See "foscarnet sodium."